22 months to work, dig, tidy and declutter my way to debt freedom

jwil

You are doing really well peaceandfreedom, well done on getting below 11k :T :T

It's difficult when OH isn't on board, hope you manage to convince him.

DedicatedDFW

Hi p&f

Huge congrats on getting your balances down :T

i know its hard when your Mr isn't on board but i guess we can't make someone have their LBM - as frustrating as it is.

Congrats to your DD x

IwillBefree - well done on your payments and thank you for the pension idea - not sure how successful this will be mind..

peaceandfreedom

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone .

As I have enjoyed a budgetary surplus this month I have sent a another 35 quid to the credit card. I have spent a lot of time today reading Mr Money Moustache, I must say it really does help with the motivation.

I've also reached the conclusion that:

• I am FAR too lazy.
• I could do a lot more around the house instead of whinging about not being able to afford to pay a man to do it.
• I am still not treating my debt as an emergency.
• I need to get back on my bike.
• I watch far too much telly and listen to too much depressing news.
• I could cut my expenses back a lot more if I tried a bit harder.

While all this sounds slightly negative, it's actually really positive because I find there is a great deal more that is now under my control. I'm feeling fired up and rearing to go again.

This is partly the reason why I found the surplus 35 quid, which was going to be slotted into a 'buffer'. Instead I decided that, since my debt is an 'emergency' (and has been for many years ) I would chuck it at that.

On a related note, the season of having to look at other people's holiday photos is almost over for another year - can the rest of the world please take note - I DO NOT CARE THAT I DIDN'T HAVE A 'PROPER' SUMMER HOLIDAY. I AM HAPPY FOR YOU THAT YOU DID AND I HOPE YOU DIDN'T BORROW TO PAY FOR IT. NOW PUT THAT PHONE/LAPTOP/iPAD AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, did I say that out loud . Seriously, I would like to travel more and I like holidays. I am genuinely happy that people have had nice holidays. But I have different priorities at the moment. I don't intend to have another holiday while I still owe people money.

Woooooo-hoooooooooo (and no, I haven't been drinking!).

Igamogam

Well said PAF re holidays/debt/getting back on track

lincs1205

Morning P&F, have just found your diary and am having a good read through. You are a very thoughtful and inspiring person. Will be subscribing to your diary. What sort of categories do you have in your budget please. We're going on holiday on Saturday but when we come back I'm going to sit down with Dh and kick debts butt.

in_need_of_direction

Those could be my bullett points although I try to avoid the news!

jwil

Great post P&F, I can relate to it all

peaceandfreedom

Morning all .

Still feeling fired-up this morning even though I had a terrible night's sleep, went to bed too late, kept waking up, had weird dreams - one of which I was very pleased to wake up from as I'd got myself into a VERY strange pickle in the dream :eek:.

I have a lot of plans for today, most of them banal house-worky type things. I am hoping to round up a couple of things to put on ebay, I've been putting this off for far too long. Also have some computer work to do.

It's a rainy day here so I won't be doing anything in the garden. That's fine because it means I can concentrate on the house without feeling guilty I'm not in the garden .

Have a nice day everyone .

peaceandfreedom

lincs1205 wrote: »

Morning P&F, have just found your diary and am having a good read through. You are a very thoughtful and inspiring person. Will be subscribing to your diary. What sort of categories do you have in your budget please. We're going on holiday on Saturday but when we come back I'm going to sit down with Dh and kick debts butt.

Welcome and thanks for the kind comments, lincs .

I outlined my budget categories in this post (it's rather long, I'm afraid):
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=68939321&postcount=70

At the very beginning of this diary I have summed up my spending for the year.

A budget is very personal really, it depends very much on what sort of outgoings you have. But most of us have very similar outgoing categories. My budget doesn't include bills that my husband pays for as we keep our finances separate.

There is an SOA link here that lists most things and allows you to work out your monthly situation:
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Good luck with it all. I found that once I got to grips with our outgoings and kept a tight rein on expenditure, I had a lot more spare cash floating about. It is enlightening how much less you can spend when you put your mind to it.

Orange_Ena

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone .

As I have enjoyed a budgetary surplus this month I have sent a another 35 quid to the credit card. I have spent a lot of time today reading Mr Money Moustache, I must say it really does help with the motivation.

I've also reached the conclusion that:

• I am FAR too lazy.
• I could do a lot more around the house instead of whinging about not being able to afford to pay a man to do it.
• I am still not treating my debt as an emergency.
• I need to get back on my bike.
• I watch far too much telly and listen to too much depressing news.
• I could cut my expenses back a lot more if I tried a bit harder.

While all this sounds slightly negative, it's actually really positive because I find there is a great deal more that is now under my control. I'm feeling fired up and rearing to go again.

This is partly the reason why I found the surplus 35 quid, which was going to be slotted into a 'buffer'. Instead I decided that, since my debt is an 'emergency' (and has been for many years ) I would chuck it at that.

On a related note, the season of having to look at other people's holiday photos is almost over for another year - can the rest of the world please take note - I DO NOT CARE THAT I DIDN'T HAVE A 'PROPER' SUMMER HOLIDAY. I AM HAPPY FOR YOU THAT YOU DID AND I HOPE YOU DIDN'T BORROW TO PAY FOR IT. NOW PUT THAT PHONE/LAPTOP/iPAD AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, did I say that out loud . Seriously, I would like to travel more and I like holidays. I am genuinely happy that people have had nice holidays. But I have different priorities at the moment. I don't intend to have another holiday while I still owe people money.

Woooooo-hoooooooooo (and no, I haven't been drinking!).

Great post p&f.

I've bookmarked those links and will go back and read but I did read the one about the news and too much telly. I've felt so much better for mostly ignoring the news and have cut down on having the telly on, unless I'm actually watching something. If you only want good news in your life, check out the Good News Network. Just lots of nice heart warming stories

All the best for a good week